Product Code Database
Rudolf Schmidt (12 May 1886 – 7 April 1957) was a general in the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany during World War II who commanded the 2nd Panzer Army on the Eastern Front. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves. He was the older brother of Hans-Thilo Schmidt, who sold secrets about the Enigma machine to the French.
On 1 February 1940 he was appointed commanding general of the XXXIX Panzer Corps. He led the Corps in France and was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross for his role in that campaign on 3 June 1940. He was promoted to General der Panzertruppe and appointed acting commander of the 2nd Army which took part in the Battle of Moscow. On 25 December 1941 he was appointed Commander of the 2nd Panzer Army (replacing the sacked Heinz Guderian).
His brother Hans-Thilo Schmidt sold details of the Germans' Enigma machine and other sensitive military information to the French Deuxième Bureau from 1931 until the German invasion of France in 1940. In January 1942 Schmidt was promoted to Generaloberst, but on 10 April 1943 he was relieved of his command after the Gestapo arrested his brother for spying for the French, and found letters that Schmidt had written in which he was highly critical of Hitler’s conduct of the war and the Nazi Party. He appeared before a court martial but was acquitted and transferred to the leadership reserve on 30 September 1943. He was never re-employed.
On 16 December 1947 Schmidt was arrested by Red Army on his way to his home in Weimar. Taken to Moscow, he was initially imprisoned at the Vladimir Central Prison and Butyrka prison. In 1952, he was sentenced to 25 years in prison for war crimes by a military tribunal. In march 1953, dictator Stalin died. In September 1955, Chancellor of Germany Konrad Adenauer visited Moscow and negotiated with Nikita Khrushchev. On September 12, he reached an agreement on the return of 10,000 prisoners of war and the establishment of diplomatic relations. On 30 September 1955, Schmidt was released and returned to Germany. He died in 1957.
|
|
